No More Personal Websites Allowed In China
In a drastic move to tighten regulations of the Internet, individuals can no longer register domain names in China, and those who already have personal websites could lose them.
According to a statement on The China Internet Network Information Centre, as of this week, the only people who can register new domains will be businessmen or organizations, and all those new registrants will need to have both written application materials as well as copies of their enterprise’s business license or organization code certificate.
The China Internet Network Information Centre, which supervises domain name registration, says that the measure stemmed from concern over widespread pornographic content on personal websites.
Existing individual domains could also be in trouble. Website owners in Jiangsu, Shanghai, Henan, Zhejiang and Jiangxi said their sites were no longer accessible.
Human Blood Stem Cells Engineered To Kill HIV
A proof-of-principle study has demonstrated that it is possible to engineer human blood stem cells into cells that can target and kill HIV-infected cells. The result is the equivalent of a genetic vaccine which is not only good news in the fight against HIV – the process could also be used against a range of chronic viral diseases.
In the study researchers from the UCLA AIDS Institute and colleagues took the “killer” T cells that help fight infection, known as CD8 cytotoxic T lymphocytes, from an HIV-infected individual. The researchers then identified the molecule known as the T-cell receptor – the molecule that guides the T cell in recognizing and killing HIV-infected cells. Although these cells are able to destroy HIV-infected cells, they do not exist in enough quantities to clear the virus from the body. So the researchers cloned the receptor and genetically engineered human blood stem cells, then placed the stem cells into human thymus tissue that had been implanted in mice, allowing them to study the reaction in a living organism.
Gizmag (thanks, ReliegiousMarie)
Ultra low budget alien invasion movie
In case you haven’t already seen it – this wonderful little movie cost just £300 to make. It’s rather superb and has landed Fede Alvarez a nice big Hollywood contract. This time they’re giving him a 18 million dollars to play with. Can’t wait to see the results.
100 Outstanding and Inspirational Infrared Photos
Infrared photography produces some of the most amazing photographs on the planet.
In infrared photography, the film or image sensor used within a digital camera is sensitive to infrared lighting, which allows the camera to pick up any light that’s invisible to the human eye.
Objects that are normally bright in visible light look dark, while normally dark objects look especially bright.
In most cases, an infrared filter is used which lets the infrared light to pass through to the camera. In the linked article, they take a look at 100 inspirational examples of infrared photography that are sure to both inspire and amaze you.
See more at Web Designer Depot (Thanks @James_Random)
Toddler found with needles in body
A Brazilian toddler is recovering in hospital after he was found to have up to fifty sewing needles stuck inside his body.
Doctors treating the two year-old hope to remove all the needles but say it is proving difficult as some are inserted in vital organs.
The boy’s father has suggested the needles may be from a ‘black magic’ ritual after telling a newspaper that he saw items linked to ‘black magic’ in the home where the toddler lives with his mother and stepfather.
X-rays showed the needles, some up to two inches long, throughout his body. Doctors believe they were inserted one by one and not swallowed. A police investigation is taking place.
Yahoo News (Thanks @XxLadyClaireXx)
Debunking Psychology
There’s loads of claims out there about popular psychology that we regularly hear. Statements like “You only use 10% of your brain” and “as you get older you forget more and your mind deteriorates” you’ll hear not infrequently. Others might claim “oh I’m one of those left brain people” or that you can learn information whilst asleep – these statements are all regularly claimed without any question.
Possibly the best book at debunking these statements is 50 Great Myths of Popular Psychology. It covers plenty of subjects from ESP, subliminal messages through to ideas that men and women communicate differently or your handwriting reveals things about your personality.
A good fun read that you may be too late to purchase from Amazon (I wouldn’t know) so best head over there and get a copy of the Atheists guide to xmas instead. 
Personalities Accurately Judged By Physical Appearance Alone
Observers were able to accurately judge some aspects of a stranger’s personality from looking at photographs, according to a study in the current issue of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (PSBP), the official monthly journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. Self-esteem, ratings of extraversion and religiosity were correctly judged from physical appearance.
Researchers asked participants to assess the personalities of strangers based first on a photograph posed to the researchers’ specifications and then on a photograph posed the way the subject chose. Those judgments were then compared with how the person and acquaintances rated that individual’s personality. They found that while both poses provided participants with accurate cues about personality, the spontaneous pose showed more insight, including about the subject’s agreeableness, emotional stability, openness, likability, and loneliness.
Science Daily (thanks, ReliegiousMarie)
World’s biggest art work is a nine mile circle in the sand
Big enough to fit more than 176 Wembley Stadiums, the giant landmark is visible from 12km (7.5 miles) up and airline passengers have been stunned by its beauty. Even Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson called to congratulate designer Jim Denevan on his ambitious work.
The artist and three colleagues took 15 days to complete the project, working day and night.
It features more than 1,000 individual circles, which they painstakingly ‘drew’ by dragging a roll of chain fencing 2m (6ft) wide behind a 4×4 repeatedly to etch markings into the desert sand.
You’ll Buy More From Web Ads That Know How You Think
Amid the wealth of information streaming out of websites, banner ads get little of users’ attention. For website operators that depend on advertising revenues and online retailers, that’s not good news. So could they make those banners more appealing by tailoring the content more closely to users’ personality type? Glen Urban, an internet marketing researcher at the MIT Sloan School of Management in Cambridge, Massachusetts, thinks so, and has developed an “ad morphing” system along with colleague John Hauser to do just that.
Urban says people who are looking to buy things online tend to behave in distinctive “cognitive styles” when presented with information: deliberative or impulsive, holistic or analytical, and visual or verbal. By changing the appearance of banner ads to fit in with personality type, it is possible to make the ads more appealing to the user, he says.
New Scientist (thanks, Mill)
The Psychology Of Climate Change Denial
Even as the science of global warming gets stronger, fewer Americans believe it’s real. In some ways, it’s nearly as jarring a disconnect as enduring disbelief in evolution or carbon dating. And according to Kari Marie Norgaard, a Whitman College sociologist who’s studied public attitudes towards climate science, we’re in denial.
“Our response to disturbing information is very complex. We negotiate it. We don’t just take it in and respond in a rational way,” said Norgaard.
Wired (thanks, Mill)
